Narcissism will get you everywhere in your job hunt: UBC study

Yvonne Zacharias, Vancouver Sun06.12.2014

Narcissists tend to talk about themselves, make eye contact, joke around and ask the interviewers more questions.Minerva Studio
/ Getty Images/iStockphoto

Participants of Japanese, Chinese and Korean heritage exhibited lower levels of narcissism and were less likely to receive “definitely hire” ratings as a result. “The pro-narcissism bias results in an indirect cultural bias particularly against east Asians,” said Paulhus. People of European descent are most likely to be hired.whitetag
/ Getty Images/iStockphoto

There was no gender difference detected in the study. With an equal number of men and women participating, neither gender surpassed the other.Fuse
/ Getty Images/Fuse

When narcissists are interviewed by someone who knows more than they do, they become even bigger braggarts. “Narcissists actually increased their self-promotion in the face of an expert interviewer,” said Paulhus. “If you criticize a narcissist, they will up the ante and keep pushing and fighting to verify that they are the greatest person ever.”g-stockstudio
/ Getty Images/iStockphoto

The study findings suggest new approaches are needed by both employers and applicants. Said Paulhus: “For the interviewers, we think they should try to look beyond the self-presentation and focus on what they want for an employee. In some cases, you might want someone who is really good at self-promotion. Steve Jobs, for example, was very good at promoting his products and really exaggerating their positivity at times but for more jobs, you don’t want someone who is exaggerating so try to look beyond the surface self-presentation. Try to stick to the facts, what you know concretely about the individual rather than how flashy they are in an interview.”Wavebreakmedia Ltd
/ Getty Images/Wavebreak Media

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Braggarts do better than modest people in job interviews, a new University of B.C. study has found.

Narcissism will get you everywhere and self-effacement will get you nowhere, found the study of 75 psychology students who were asked to apply for a job in a lab as a psychology assistant. The interviews were videotaped and assessed by “raters” to determine who they would hire.

Here are five points from the study spearheaded by psychology professor Del Paulhus.

1. Participants of Japanese, Chinese and Korean heritage exhibited lower levels of narcissism and were less likely to receive “definitely hire” ratings as a result. “The pro-narcissism bias results in an indirect cultural bias particularly against east Asians,” said Paulhus. People of European descent are most likely to be hired.

2. There was no gender difference detected in the study. With an equal number of men and women participating, neither gender surpassed the other.

3. Narcissists tend to talk about themselves, make eye contact, joke around and ask the interviewers more questions.

4. When narcissists are interviewed by someone who knows more than they do, they become even bigger braggarts. “Narcissists actually increased their self-promotion in the face of an expert interviewer,” said Paulhus. “If you criticize a narcissist, they will up the ante and keep pushing and fighting to verify that they are the greatest person ever.”

5. The study findings suggest new approaches are needed by both employers and applicants. Said Paulhus: “For the interviewers, we think they should try to look beyond the self-presentation and focus on what they want for an employee. In some cases, you might want someone who is really good at self-promotion. Steve Jobs, for example, was very good at promoting his products and really exaggerating their positivity at times but for more jobs, you don’t want someone who is exaggerating so try to look beyond the surface self-presentation. Try to stick to the facts, what you know concretely about the individual rather than how flashy they are in an interview.”

For interviewees who are not comfortable bragging: “They should at least for the interview try to overcome that. Maybe practice being a self-promoter before interviews and be ready with the plus side of their repertoire,” said Paulhus. “They may not be comfortable with that but they have got to do it for the interview.”

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